Elon Musk’s Tunnel Plan Isn’t as Crazy as SpaceX or Tesla

Elon Musk has got to be kidding. That's the consensus, anyway, a few days after the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive officer tweeted that he'd received "verbal" approval to build an ultra-high-speed rail connection capable of sending commuters from New York to Washington, D.C., via Philadelphia, in exactly—and Musk was precise here—29 minutes.

To say that there are a few issues with this plan is probably a kind way to put it. Let's start with the technical ones: That superfast train, known as the hyperloop, exists only as a prototype, and a tunnel from New York to Washington would be more than twice as long as the longest tunnel ever drilled, and more than five times longer than the longest rail tunnel. As far as anyone can tell, all Musk has done on that front is start a tunneling company that owns a used drilling machine. It's called the Boring Company, which is hilarious, but also gives the whole enterprise an unserious air.